"LOTS" TO SEE

Saturday on Denman Island was glorious! It's been awhile since we had a full day of sunshine. We took the opportunity to spend some time on the 5.1 acre lot (which we now have an accepted offer on). The place has a good feel to it... it faces south-west towards Baines sound which will will take in some spectacular sunsets. I took this pan shot to get a good idea of what the view will be like. The pan-picture shows that the land is dished; it's really quite flat with a gradual slope to the bluff line. All the trees in the picture are on the property as it extends well below the bluff, (about 2 acres). The clearing is currently about an acre in size; the picture of Kari standing where the front door would be, is taken from the edge of the bluff. We still have a couple of hurdles to jump before we can take possession.... first we have to sell something and secondly we need to be convinced of a good clean water supply. If all goes well, I'll be building a house of some sort, sometime this year. At first, it seemed overwhelming, but I think it's the only opportunity like this that I'll ever get. It should keep me busy for a year and all the labour that I provide will be tax free. We're hopeful that we can keep the bank out of it, so there will be little pressure on completions etc. There will be lots more on this subject in future posts. (picture to the right is the view that we'll have once clearing is complete.)




Here's a few more pictures shot during that sunny, frosty Saturday morning. I've also vowed to take my chainsaw while driving the island, as on numerous occasions I've been forced to back-track because of trees across the road.


I haven't heard from Curt this week; the last I heard, he had a surfboard and was going to be camping on the beach. As it is a grey, rainy Monday, a NZ beach sounds like a good place to be.




DAVE'S (cheap) WINE CORNER

During the week on a big trip to Courtenay, we picked up a couple of the Value wine award winners mentioned in the last post's Wine Corner. First we opened the "Tormaresca Paiara Negroamaro". It was quite funky and had a gasoline taste to it.... Kari wouldn't try it as she said it smelled like sweat socks. After a glass and a half, it wasn't getting any better and I decided it was corked.... Although the cork rate for synthetic corked bottles is quite low, (I know this because I've researched it), I'm almost 50% sure that the bottle was corked. We now have to decide whether to invest another $11 to give it fair chance or to write it off as "plonk". Next I opened the "Castillo de Monséran Garnacha" and it was yummy. A nice fruit forward, summery red, light in texture and colour and similar to a Pinot Noir. This one I recommend for summer sipping around the BBQ; Look for it in the "Spain" section of your LBC.